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by Marla Lewin

Jeff Bridges CRAZY HEART Photo by Lorey Sebastian (c) Fox Searchlight 2009

The final day of the 25th festival was proclaimed Jeff Bridges day. It is a full day of films starring Jeff Bridges concluding with a screening of Crazy Heart for which he is nominated for a Best Actor nomination by the Academy. A tribute to the Santa Barbara native will cap the evening.

At a Sunday morning brunch at the famed Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort the winners of the 2010 Santa Barbara Film Festival competition were announced.

Audiences packed the local theaters for the last 11 days in spite of the worst economy since the great depression. The festival, which celebrated its Silver Anniversary February 4-14, was a huge success according to SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling.

The Jury for the 2010 SBIFF included:  actor/director Joel David Moore (Avatar and director, SBIFF Award winning film, Spiral); SBIFF originator Phyllis de Picciotto; actor Haaz Sleiman(The Visitor); USA Today Film Critic Claudia Puig; Andy Abrahams Wilson (director, Under Our Skin); actor Clifton Collins, Jr. (Capote), actor Anthony Zerbe(The Matrix); actor Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue); actor Jay Thomas; and actor/director/writer Perry Lang.

The winning films are:

The Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema, went to Exam (US Premiere), directed by Stuart Hazeldine

The Best International Film Award goes to Letters to Father Jaakob (Postia pappi Jaakobille) from Finland and directed by Klaus Härö.

The Nueva Vision Award for the best Spanish/Latin American film was awarded to The Wind Journeys (US Premiere), directed by Ciro Guerra and starring Marciano Martínez, Yull Núñez.

Best East Meets West Cinema Award went to South Korea's Mother (Madeo), directed by Joon-ho Bong.

Best Eastern Bloc Award went to Katalin Varga (US Premiere), directed by Peter Strickland.

Best Documentary Film Award went to Enemies of the People, from UK/Cambodia and directed by Rob Lemkin. They received a Blu-Ray interactive authoring of the film by Mozaik Multimedia and Home Planet Productions, valued at $15,000.

Bruce Corwin Award for Best Live Action Short Film Under 30 Minutes went to Ana's Playground, directed by Eric D. Howell.

Bruce Corwin Award for Best Animation Short Film went to Urs, directed by Moritz Mayerhofer.

The Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award Sponsored by The Fund for Santa Barbara for a documentary film that addresses social justice issues also went to Enemies of the People, directed by Rob Lemkin.

The SB Audience Choice Award went to the documentary The Legend of Pale Male, directed by Frederic Lilien.

The final screening at the festival is the premiere of Middle Men directed by George Gallo. Starring Giovanni Ribisi, Luke Wilson, James Caan, Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Pollack.